Type-writing machine.



0.A. MARTINI.

TYPE WRITING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC-28. 1916.

1,227,061 Patented May 22,1917.

9 11 WITNESSES: INVENTIOR:

UNITED STATES PATENT onnicn.

OTTO A. MARTINI, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR T0 UNDERWOOD TYPEWRITER COMPANY, OF NEXV YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

TYPE-WRITING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

' Application filed December 28, 1916. Serial No. 139,303.

To all whom it may concern' .1

Be it known that I, O'rro A. MARTINI, a

subject of the Kingof Denmark, residing in Brooklyn borough, in the county of Kings, city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful I Improvements in Type-VVriting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improvement in typewriters, and more especially to a change in construction of the tabulating finger-pieces.

Where tabulating mechanism is used to' punctuation marks shall be used in the corresponding places. 'Inorder to avoid confusion, the tabulating key heads or fingerpieces are made reversible, so as to expose to view either. one of a series of characters or signs, indicating the particular digit colums, such as hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, etc, to which the particular keys correspond. I

Ordinarily decimal tabulating keys control, successively, selectionsin each zone or major column. In certain kinds of work it is desired, however, sometimes to skip some of the zones or major columns, and bring the carriage :to. some zone or column farther down the line. A mechanism, then, has been invented, described in the patent to Barnard, 1,073,068, for selectively position ing the carriage, either in succession .or otherwise, at the beginning of any. one of a series of major columns or zones within the capacity of the machine, In thepresent ex emplification of the invention, tllSQlQ are shown four zones or major columns. 1 Some of the same, decimal tabulating keys, with the aid of a special'key, are used to control the tabulating'and auxiliary mechanism to select zonal positions of thecarriage. It is desired, then, that these keys have a 'deslgnation thereon showing which particular" columns may control, such asthe first, second,'third and fourthjcolumns. Thesesigns are alwayslvisible as they might be of use with. a fixed annular gear.

when either of they other two sets of characters on the tabulating keys are in use. This third character or designation must be arranged so as not to interfere with the other signs on the keys. Further, inasmuch as the change from depressing one decimal tabulating sign to another is made by rotating a shutter, the sign, for indicating the column, which is placed on the shutter, should be in an upright position for the showing of either of the other sets of characters. indicator with thecolumn sign thereon. The indicatoris mounted on a pinion meshing The ratio between the fixed pinion and the annular gear is such that in the two positions of the key head, the column sign fwill be correctly shown and not inverted, as would be the case if it was just swung around with the shutter. Other features and advantageswill hereinafter appear.

Referring to thefdrawings,

Figure l is an assembled View of the front part's of the tabulating keys, showing the seriesof characters having the punctuation-space signs as covered, and exposing to view the other set, thereby giving the greatest digital capacity of the tabulating mechanism. I

Fig. 2 is a view of one of the tabulating key heads or finger-pieces, showing it in just the opposite position to that of Fig. 1, whereby it indicates thousands instead of tens of thousands.

Patented May 22, 1917.

To do this, the shutter carries an' Fig. a spread perspective view showing the various parts of the improvement detached one fromthe other to bring out the details thereof.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of one of the ltabulator key finger-pieces showing. the same in vertical section from front to rear.

F 1g. 5 1s a diagrammatic vertical sectlon of the type-writer in general, showing the mechanism for obtaining either decimal typewriting or column selecting,

Referring to the specific parts of the invention, 1 indicates tabulating keys which control-a combined decimal tabulating and column-selecting mechanism, indicated in general at 2, for determining various positions of the carriage 3. A detailed description of this mechanism 2 neednot be given here, as it is not a part of this invention and is disclosed in the patent to Barnard,

1,073,068. It is suiiicient to say that this mechanism enables the tabulating keys 1 to either control decimal positions successively in the several major columns or zones, or select any one of the major columns or zones, not necessarily in successive order.

There are ten of these tabulating keys shown corresponding to ten letter-space positions of the carriage 3. Some of these spaces may be used for punctuation in certain classes of work. If that is the case, the capacity of the column or Zone, and likewise the tabulating mechanism for selecting digital columns, is less than it would be if all of the letter-spaces of a zone were used solely to furnish places for digits.

The keys 1, as shown in Fig. 1, are each provided with two sets of designations or characters. One set is as follows: 1 10 100 T 101 100T M 10M and 100M. The other set of characters, which is covered up in Fig. 1 is: 1. 10 100 T 101 100T and M. Four of these keys, which are arranged to control the column selection, are also provided with the characters 1, 2, and 4!: designating the first, second, third and fouth columns which they select.

Each tabulating key includes a stem at having a base 5 secured thereon. This base is recessed to form a nest for a disk 6 on which are printed the characters for indicating the two decimal or letter-spaces which the key selects. For example, the key indicated at 7, in Fig. 1, has printed on the front half of the disk 6, the designation T indicating thousands, and on the upper half a comma (shown dotted), indicating in the other series the punctuation space between hundreds and thousands. The particular form of the disk 6 will be seen by reference to Fig. 8. This disk has two lugs 8 engaging in corresponding sockets 9 in the base 5 so as to prevent its rotating.

Fixed to the base 5, there is provided a collar 10 formed with an inwardly-projecting flange 11 having formed thereon an internal gear 12. Meshing with this gear 12 is a pinion 13 provided with an indicator 14 having inscribed thereon, in the case of four of the keys, the designations, 1, 2, 3, 1-, for the four zones or major columns controlled by the tabulating mechanism. The indicator 14 projects into a corresponding opening 15 in a shutter 16. This shutter is mounted to rotate relatively to the collar 10 and the base 5. The s iutter is also provided with a sight-opening 17, through which one or the other characters on the disk 6 is visible, according to the position of the shut ter with respect to the tabulating key. That is to say, if the shutter is in the position in dicated in Figs. 1 and 3, the lower character on each numeral key Wlll be visible, whereas, if it is reversed by rotation thereof to the position indicated in Fig. 2, the upper character will be visible.

It will be noted, in passing, that the indicator 1-1, on such of the keys as are pro vided therewith, forms part of the shutter in concealing the characters over which they lie. The shutter 16 is secured to a cap 18 slipped over the shutter and over parts on the key base 5. This cap may be provided with an inwardly-curled annular flange 19 to engage a transparent disk 20 placed above the shutter 16 and indicator 14:. The cap is also provided with tabs 21 bent over to engage the under side of the base 5 to hold the parts in their disassembled position on the tabulator key to extend forward.

It will be seen then that the. cap 18 may be rotated from the Fig. 1 position to the Fig. 2 position, whereby the shutter will bring the sight-opening 17 therein from a position disclosing the lower character on the corresponding tabulator key to a position disclosing the upper character, as in Fig 2. The character on the indicator 1%: corresponding to the zone or major column will always be visible as its surface is flush with the upper surface of the shutter. This character will be in an erect position in both positions of adjustment of the cap and parts carried thereby, as it rotates with the cap and shutter, and the ratio of its pinion 13 to the annular gear 12 is such as to compensate for the half reversion in inverting the position of the shutter. The particular ratio used in this instance is one to three, but might be any other ratio found feasible.

To lock the cap and shutter in the two positions of adjustment thereof, there is provided a ball lock 22 normally urged outward by a spring 23 provided in a socket in the base 5. This ball 22 passes through an opening 24 in the collar 10 and into either one of two openings 25 and 26 provided on. opposite sides of the shutter 16. This looking arrangement is suflicient to hold the parts against accidental relative movement, but will yield when considerable force is applied to permit a change in exposing one or the other set of characters. The special form of shutter and indicator is onl necessary for the four keys which have the three sets of characters thereon. The other keys which have but two sets of characters may have a simple shutter, such as that disclosed in the patent to McLaughlin, 980,547.

In order to keep the pinion 18 from rubbing off the characters on the disk 6, and also to decrease the friction, the pinion 13 is supported in a raised position above the surface of the disk 6. T 0 do this, the recess in the base 5 is made slightly deeper than the thickness of the disk 6, so that the rim of the base 5 will form part of the support ing means for the pinion 13. To support the pinion 13 adjacent the center of the base 5, there is provided a miniature turn-table or button 27 rotatably mounted at the center of the'base 5. This turn-table is also of slightly greater thickness than the disk 6 and its upper surface is flush withthe surface of the rim surrounding the disk6. The pinion 113, then, will have a practically rolling engagement with the rim of the base'5 and the turn-table 27, so that it will turn easily and will clear the characters onthe disk 6. r.

It will thus be seen that those tabulating keys which are used to control both decimal or digit column selecting, and Zone or major column selecting may have three designations thereon, two of which being alternately visible,- with a third for the zone being always visible and maintained in a vertical position in either of its positions of adjustment. V

Variations may be resorted to within the scope of the invention, and portions of the improvements may be used without others.

'Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. The combination with a. key, of areversible cap'for said key, and a perpetual indicator having a sign thereon reversing with said cap while maintaining the upright position of the sign on the key'in obverse or reverse positions. 7 I

2. The combination with a key stem, of an indicator on said key stem having a sign thereon and turning to reverse the position of the indicator, and compensating means for automatically correcting the inversion of the sign, so as to maintain the same in an upright position in either position of adjustment on the key stem 3. The combination with a key stem, of a character on said key stem, a shutter shiftable to alternately disclose and conceal said character, a second character moving with said shutter, and means for maintaining the second character in erect position in either position of the shutter.

4;. The combination with a key stem, of a disk on said key stem having two signs thereon, a shutter for alternately disclosing and concealing said signs separately, and an indicator having a sign thereon moving as said shutter moves and relative thereto, to assume in each position of said shutter a position corresponding to an upright showing of the sign on the indicator. v

5. The combination with a key stem, of disk on said key stem having signs thereon, a shutter for alternately disclosing and concealing said signs, a stationary gear, a gear moving with the movement of said shutter, and an'indicator adjusted by said gears, so that a sign thereon will be maintained in a justified position in different positions of said shutter and indicator.

6. The combination with a key stem, of a disk on said key stem having characters thereon, ashutter rotating relatively to said key stem to alternately disclose and conceal. said characters, said shutter having a sightopening and'a second aperture, an indicator extending in said second aperture, and having a character thereon, and a differential mechanism effective during a relative movement between said shutter and said indicator with respect to said key stem to correct a reversion of said indicator, so as to maintain the sign thereon in correct position.

7. The combination with a key stem, of a disk mounted on said key stem having a plurality ofcharacters thereon, a shutter rotatably mounted on said key stem to alternately conceal and disclose said characters,

said shutter having a sight-opening and a second aperture therein, an indicator extending in said second aperture, and having a character thereon, agear connected to said key stem, and a gear meshing with said firstmentioned gear connected tosaid indicator, said indicator swinging through an arc with the rotation of said shutter and rotating relatively to said shutter to maintain the character thereon in an upright position in different positions of said shutter and said indicator.

8. The combination with a key stem, of a disk on said key stem having difierent characters thereon to indicate difi'erent determinations of the associated key, an indicator having a sign thereon swinging from a position over one of said characters to a position over another of said characters, and diiierential means compensating for the swinging of said indicator about a fixed point so as to cause thesign thereon to assume a vertical position in both positions of the indicator.

9. The combination with a key stem, of an indicator on said key stem having a character thereon, a shutter, and gearing enabling a relative movement between said indicator and said shutter for a swinging movement of said indicator while maintaining the character on said indicator in an erect position.

10. The combination with a key stem, of a disk having characters thereon mounted on said, key stem, a member rotating above said disk, and supports for said member project ing circumferentially and centrally somewhat above the surface of said disk, to enable said member to clear said disk.

11. The combination with a key stem, of a base on said key stem, said base having a recess therein, a disk having characters thereon in said recess with its upper surface located somewhat below the upper surface of the rim of said base, said disk having a central opening therein, a member rotatably mounted in said central opening and having its upper surface on a higher level'than the &

upper surface of said disk, and a pinion rotating around said base supported by said member and said riin, out of contact With said disk.

12. The combination with a key stem, of a base on said key stem, a disk on said base having characters thereon, a shutter for alternately disclosing and concealing said characters, a floating indicator traveling with said shutter above said disk, and supporting means for maintaining said indicator out of contact With said disk.

OTTO A. MARTINI.

Witnesses:

B. C. STICKNEY, ARTHUR A. JOHNSON.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

